Familiarity or The Avenging Sweepers' Initiative
by DDAriSieg
Summary: Avengers College AU. Steve is just trying not to piss off his new roommate Clint by keeping his distance from a certain russian redhead, Tony is busy driving Bruce insane (except he already is), Natascha and Pepper are definitely up to no good, and Fury still wants to save the world. No-one really knows what Thor and Loki are up to. Past Tony/Pepper, eventual Steve/Tony.
1. Prologue

**Author's comment:**

**(Don't worry, you don't HAVE to read this crazy long comment)**

This an Avengers college AU. I've written ten chapters in hand while on holiday on Iceland, and this is the prologue.

The pairings are past Tony/Pepper, future Steve/Tony and possibly other couples among the ensemble cast. (Definite Clint/Natascha vibes, but it's pretty f**cked up)

Most characters are based on their movie versions though Hawkeye is also influenced by the earth mightiest heroes version. Antman and Wasp are also gonna appear a little, inspired by the emh universe.

The character's backgrounds are inspired by the comic version in most cases, though they have naturally been changed to fit the story as well.

(As an example Tony actually graduated MIT at 17, but for the purposes of my story he's going to be a third year student at 17, making him a graduate at maybe 19.)

I have tried to keep the IDEA of the characters and their background more so than the actual events where this wasn't possible.

(As an example Avengers-Steve has "returned after an absence" and has "lost a great deal" and suffers from something like "survivor's guilt"). In this chapter you will learn how this came to be for THIS version of Steve Rogers)

I hope that my vision for the character's will seem clear – And fear not, even though the story is Steve/Tony centric the rest of the cast are very much involved as well.

Now, enough talk. On with the prologue!

**Disclaimer: **I most definitely don't own these characters, but I would like to work for marvel one day, and borrow them more officially ;)

**Prologue**

Steve is not, in fact, unfamiliar with Tony Stark.

Actually, if one was to be completely honest – And one always should be – he has met him on a few occasions over the years.

The first time he wasn't yet six, and frankly had absolutely no idea what it meant to be "a Stark".

All he knew was that he was in the hospital – Again. He'd been in and out of the damned place for as long as he could remember. Sometimes his weak health was threatened by sickness, but most of the time he'd gotten himself hurt because he'd forgotten, or simply refused to accept, how weak and fragile his tiny body was.

As such it wasn't the first time, either, that a kindlooking doctor had approached him -alone- with a serious look on his face. And Steve had had to explain that the broken wrist and severe bruising really DID come from trying to save his younger brother Bucky who'd gotten stuck in a tree – And wasn't somehow inflicted by his mom or dad.

Steve wasn't even sure HOW his parents could've done that – They would hardly be throwing him down a flight of stairs, and he wasn't actually THAT fragile, thank you very much!

He had fairly rich parents, and was used to having a hospital room to himself. It did tend to get pretty lonely, but his mother apparently thought it best, so who was he to argue?

It was becaue of this, though, that he was rather surprised when the nurse walked him into a room, where there were two beds and another boy around his age.

The boy had dark, unruly hair and brown eyes that were locked angrily with those of some adult guy. The man was bald but he did have a beard, and Steve wasn't quite sure if he liked the way he smiled behind it. It reminded him of the important people on television that his mother always swore at.

"Obie-!" the darkhaired boy whined.

"You know that I HATE this place..Please, it was just a lil' miscalcula-la-lation, I just need to do it one more time, and.." Steve was wondering how old he was, he sounded like Bucky, the way he pleaded. Then again, Steve couldn't actually remember ever pleading himself, so maybe it had nothing to do with age?

"Tony," the man said sternly. Steve wondered if he was the boy's father.

"You were LUCKY you didn't get more hurt! There's no reason to test your f.." the man stopped for a moment, as he suddenly looked back at Steve and the nurse.

"fate." He said, giving the nurse a look that Steve didn't understand, but he still didn't like it.

"Now, be a good boy. Don't bother the nurses, and.." He turned and smiled at Steve.

"..get along with your new roommate."

Steve smiled politely back, and would have introduced himself, but the bald man had quickly brushed past them. Later Steve came to know the man as Obadiah Stane, Tony's godfather and Howard's business partner.

As soon as Steve was settled into bed, the nurse left and the two boys were left alone.

They eyed each other with curiosity for a while, before Steve decided to break the awkward silence.

"Hi. My name's Steve Rogers," he said, testing the waters.

The blackhaired boy looked sharply at him for a moment, then smiled.

"Hi! My name's Tony Stark! How old are you? Like..four? Did you know I built a circuit board when I was four? It was in the TV 'n all..Yeah. I'm awesome like that.."

Steve was a little taken back by the talkativeness of his roommate, but he quickly recovered and fired back a monologue of his own:

"No, I'm five, I'm just real tiny..But what's a circle board? I can draw circles real well, also my brother is awesone he can climb the TALLEST trees even though he's just three!" Tony eyed him for a moment, as if he was trying to figure out what part to answer to.

"I'm five too," he finally answered.

"Actually I just turned five," he added and looked so proud that Steve didn't have the heart to tell him that he would soon be six.

"Congratulations!" He said instead. Tony hadn't really commented on any of what he said, so the conversation died out.

Steve eyed the boy's apparent injuries. Much of what could be seen, except his face, was covered in light bandages. His arm was in a sling, and he had a black eye. Steve wondered if he had had to explain to the doctor's that his parents' hadn't hurt him, too.

"So..How'd you end up in here?" He asked curiously.

"I burned myself.." Tony offered with a frown. "And my arm got broken."

Steve nodded. He kind of figured that out, being a repeat visitor to the hospital and a quick study.

"Uhm..How?"

Tony looked a little annoyed, but then said:

"I was just going to weld some iron..for my robot.. But I miscalcula-la-lated, so I lost control and burnt myself." Steve nodded, not sure what it meant to weld iron.

"And your arm?"

Tony blushed slightly, looking down, and Steve thought he was embarassed.

"I broke father's equipment.." He said, clearly ashamed. Steve cocked his head, not sure how that would break his arm. It wasn't till he was older and thought back, that he really caught on to the implications.

Moments later his own father arrived. His mother was busy with some diplomatic affairs as usual, but Bucky came along and soon Steve's whole attention was on his lively little brother.

Steve didn't have a chance to talk more to Tony – Soon after a new nurse came along, and Tony was taken to another room.

The next time Steve saw Tony was in the news, little over a year later, when he was seven. Apparently he'd built an engine, which the news-woman made a big deal out of. Steve just felt a little bad that it wasn't the robot he'd wanted to build.

He had no trouble recognizing the boy – He had a disinctive face, and besides, who built weird machines at their age? (Steve had since found out what a "circuit board" was. Kind of,)

Tony's father was in the frame too, smiling broadly along with his son.

Steve's mother had groaned, and shaken her head.

"Seems like the world won't be rid of the Starks for another seventy years.."

Steve looked at Tony's proud face and found that he wouldn't mind awfully much. Of course, it wasn't till later that he found out what the Starks' did for a living, and made sense of his mother's remark.

He met Tony Stark once more before he followed his mother to Italy.

He was twelve, and hospitalized with a bad case of pneumonia. He was getting better, and had gone out to explore the hospital. (Not that there was much to explore, he'd been there often enough.)

He'd come to something called "the coronary care unit", when he walked past an open door, and caught sight of Tony. He immediately turned back, and stared inside. Tony was pale, and hooked up to a heart-monitor among other things. Even then, he was easily recognizable with his funny long eyelashes, round nose and wild dark hair, or at least so Steve thought at the time.

Steve stood still for quite a while, hoping that the other boy would wake up – But nothing happened. After a while he left, feeling a little bit let down.

Once he got home he looked up "coronary care unit" on google, and as he read about different heart diseases he felt a knot of worry grow in his stomach.

The next weeks he looked out for news on the Stark heir. It was over a month before he showed up in the news – Looking healthy and smiling brightly, no mention of his hospital stay anywhere.

After a while Steve started to wonder if he could've been wrong – If the boy at the hospital had just LOOKED a lot like Tony.

He kept tracking the news, even after he moved to Italy for his mother's job at the embassy. Reading the news on Tony was a bit of a guilty pleasure – It wasn't exactly a CRUSH... But he wasn't sure what else, either.

Bucky definitely thought it was a crush. At 16 Steve had finally hit his growth-spurt, and had grown bigger than his younger brother – But little did it help, and he wouldn't let Steve hear the end of it.

That was, of course, until the car accident that all at once tore his mother and Bucky from their family.

There were no hospital stays, just a bleak funeral-for-two and an empty house.

It took a while before Steve felt anything but lost again, and even longer before he did so without it being accompanied by a pang of guilt.

When his father announced they were going back to the States once Steve had finished high school, he had felt strangely relieved.

And if he had been just a tad bit too elated to learn that the college Tony Stark AND Steve's childhood-friend Pepper attended offered an art-course as well – Then that was a matter entirely between himself and his conscience.

_/And that was that. I hope someone thinks it sounds interesting, and will do me the favor of reading on. Next chapter is set in present time, and features the science bros^^_


	2. Chapter 1

**Author's comment:**

Thanks for the favorites and story alerts, guys :D And also my two, treasured reviews :D

This chapter is a lot of dialogue, so if you hate that kind of stuff – Sorry~

But I like explaining stuff through dialogue.

_A note on Bruce Banner: _It should be noted that Bruce is probably one of the characters I know the least out of the avengers, or rather: I know too many different versions? My Bruce is based on different characteristics from different media (including ff by author's I trust), and also much on his background-story, the psychological implications of the Hulk etc. (Not that any of that is particularly evident in this chapter). So if any Bruce Banner-lovers out there thinks I'm getting it all wrong, I'd love to consider your opinions. (But keep in mind that other sides will be evident later on)

In general, I'd love to discuss the characters with you guys, though I think it's still too early for a lot of you to get a good grasp of my characterization.

**Disclaimer:**

I honestly don't own these characters ^^" The college-AU idea ain't even original, though it's not exactly copyrighted either ;)

**Chapter 1**

"Word of advice," Bruce said, as he leaned over the sink to clean his toothbrush.

"Don't try to grow a beard – ever."

Tony sent his roommate an annoyed look, as he continued to shave off his so-far pitiful stubbles. Hey, at least he HAD something to shave off now.

"One day," he said, feeling dramatic as he put down the blade,

"I will have an epic goatee. And on that day," he pointed a finger towards Bruce who looked mildly amused.

"- You shall bow before me!"

Bruce grinned.

"Yeah – right – King Salomon.. THAT DAY isn't coming anytime soon.. - from the looks of it..-" He pretended to study Tony's face, "But when it does, I – Bruce Banner – respected member of the registered Science Bro Community WILL bow at your feet."

Tony grinned at his friend, and then lightly tapped him on the forehead (Bruce didn't do manly shoulder-punches). "I'll be holding you up on that!"

Bruce left the bathroom, and by habit Tony turned towards the mirror to check how he looked. Considering his splitting headache he looked quite chipper and he lifted one eyebrow in a flirting gesture, before he left the bathroom feeling a lot better. He didn't look half bad.

Bruce was sitting in the sofa in the shared kitchen-and-living-room when Tony walked in there. He placed himself in front of the sofa to look down at his friend. He liked feeling tall.

"So.. Did you get a good look at the freshmen? Anyone caught your interest?" he asked.

Bruce gave him a sharp look, and bit out "You know I don't date," before he visibly calmed himself.

His frown turned into a smirk, as he said:

"But I guess YOU're not jail baiting anyone anymore? Hurray, congratulations," voice dry with sarcasm.

Tony shook his head in indignation, and whined;

"Hey, I'm gonna be eighteen really soon! I haven't been jail baiting anyone since, like, almost two years ago!"

Bruce sighed theatrically, but couldn't help a small smile.

"Well – I shall never forget that first year of fending off potential suitors.." He looked a little judgemental for a moment, as he added: "My job would've been a lot easier if you hadn't been flirting CONSTANTLY, mind you."

Tony took one step forward, turned around, and flopped into the sofa beside Bruce.

"Well, it's not like anyone GAVE you that job, and "cockblocker" isn't even a proper title," he said, giving Bruce a dirty look.

"Anyway!," he continued. "This year's newcomers are basically my age, so shouldn't you be ENCOURAGING me to get along with them..?"

Bruce rolled his eyes.

"Dude. It's not like I particularly care about your love life.. But very well, I shall humor your narcissism: Who is it?"

Tony looked mock-hurt.

"You hurt me by insinuating I would be interested in just ONE person.." Bruce shook his head in exasperation.

Tony took that as his cue, and continued:

"Alright. There are a few, to be exact. That is to say, two. First-off there's this really hot second-year exchange student, I think she's Russian or whatever – Anyway, her name's Natascha Romanov and she's a red-head."

Bruce muttered "of course it's a red-head", but otherwise didn't comment.

"And well, some of the first years are pretty cute too, in a childish way, of course,"

"Look who's talking.." Bruce muttered again, but Tony ignored him.

"There's one dude who caught my eye, though mostly 'cause he was hanging out with Pepper. 'M not sure what to make of that,"

"Oh, you mean Rogers?" Bruce asked, laughing.

"His name's Steve Rogers, he's an art-major and he's going to try out for the American Football team. Also, he's Pepper Pott's childhood friend. You couldn't possibly find a WORSE match!"

Tony was a little taken aback,

"Why do YOU know all that?" he asked, feeling paranoid.

"Well.. Because not all of us are immature brats, and I actually still TALK to your ex who happened to be a great friend until you guys went and RUINED everything."

Tony felt a little guilty, and definitely a little hurt, but quickly decided to let it go. He had no intention of angering Bruce; he just liked to ANNOY him, which luckily wasn't exactly the same.

"Well, sorry dude. But at least she's HAPPY with Happy – amirite?"

Bruce couldn't help but smile at that.

"Yeah well.. funny man, ahaha. They're not even together, which is beside the point, anyway. I just wish you guys would patch things up. I mean, I for one don't give much of a fuck, but Rhodey's all awkward - "

Tony was going to argue that Rhodey already graduated, so what the hell?, but Bruce beat him to it.

"Besides, if you're going to make out with Rogers, you'd better.."

"Aww, shut it," Tony interrupted him, and shifted awkwardly in the sofa.

"I don't do art-majors nor footballers! Two in one is like.. so not gonna happen, as in, ever."

He decided against mentioning the third good reason why he wasn't getting anywhere near Steve Rogers – Plainly speaking, it was embarrassing and stupid as fuck.

So he quickly carried on:

"I'm sure I'll have a better chance with Romanov, aren't all exchange students, like, hungry for American D or something?" That came out a lot more offensive than he'd intended it to – And sure enough, Bruce was rolling his eyes.

"Wow, Tony. You're probably the most offensive person I've ever had the displeasure of knowing. I mean, how the hell would I even KNOW? God, speak to her tomorrow, you'll know, just keep me out of it,"

And Tony did.

On the next day he exchanged exactly three words with Natascha (and her overly protective friend Clint,) and realized that "not in a million years" probably didn't even begin to cover how little she'd ever want to sleep with him.

_End comment: Yeah well – That was that. Nothing fancy, ^^" Next chapter you'll learn a bit more about Tony and Pepper's relationship, as well as Steve and Pepper's – _

_Hoping you'll stay tuned – And if you have time, a little review would be much appreciated._

_Love, Ari._


	3. Chapter 2

**Author's note:**

I have a terrible habit of making excessively long author's notes. I hope ya'all forgive my soul. This chapter is not the most exciting (I sure know how to sell myself, right?), but it's kind of important in more ways than one^^

Pepper is Pepper is Pepper. If I got her wrong, shoot me, but this is my Pepper and I kinda love her, so.. If you're going to insult anyone insult me, not her.

Here goes nothing~

Also, to anonymous commenter Guest: Thanks a lot! I hope this chapter is enjoyable as well^^

**Disclaimer:**

I own absolutely nothing. Actually I live on the streets, feeding off stray cats. I am accessing the internet directly with my mind – It's my mutant ability.

**Chapter 2:**

Catching up with Pepper had both been way more awkward than Steve had anticipated, and way nicer.

It was nice because Pepper was still PEPPER – No-bullshit-Pepper, sweet Pepper, beautiful and intelligent Pepper.

Nice, because Pepper had known Bucky almost as well as she had known Steve, and somehow managed to be respectful of his loss without pitying him, or refusing to talk of the past.

The awkward was two-fold. First of all she had come into the café where they were supposed to meet a few minutes after him – And had completely failed to recognize his "new, buff self" as she later referred to it.

But the awkward little smile-and-wave, her comedic double-take and their subsequent unstoppable laughter was NOTHING compared to Pepper's tale of her love-life.

Or, to be a little more specific: The fact that she used to date Tony Stark. Thinking back, Steve wasn't sure what to think of how easily Pepper confided in him – It made him a little paranoid that she thought of him as "one of the girls". But on the other hand, she'd kept giving his abs appreciative looks, so, huh? (Not that he was interested in her.. He just hoped he wasn't that obvious, he didn't think of himself as that obvious,)

Whatever the case, Pepper had seemed relieved to discuss it with a complete outsider, and Steve had kindly nodded along to her story.

Apparently they'd befriended each other last year. Tony was one year younger than her – A fact she kept returning to, as she later went on about his immaturity – But he was also one year her senior at campus.

(Steve, of course, already knew that Tony passed the GED and entered college at 15, but it hadn't seemed like the perfect time to disclose his year-long stalking habit.)

They – her, Tony, some guys called Bruce and Rhodey, had hit it off for half a year. Then Pepper had "mistaken her protective feelings for romantic feelings", and they'd dated a few months. (Steve secretly thought that was probably the last reason he'd ever want to get dumped for, but nodded anyway,).

Things had gone downhill pretty quickly, she explained looking sad and Steve had hoped to God that she wasn't about to tell him that Tony was abusive or anything of the like.

Even now, he shifted on his bed in his shared bedroom at the thought. His roommate wasn't here, and Steve was SUPPOSED to be reading an introduction to renaissance art – But his thoughts kept drifting to his and Pepper's conversation.

He felt a bit like a dick for wanting Tony not to have been a jerk not only for Pepper's sake, but also for his own. Steve was, admittedly, a bit of a romantic. He liked to think that the tabloid magazines were grossly exaggerating most of the time – And that Tony Stark was actually a pretty decent, normal human being.

"Well – I don't even know where to start.." Pepper had said, looking tired and Steve had tried to stay calm.

"The boy has issues, okay?" She said then, emphasis on the word "boy". Steve had the feeling she was trying hard to distance herself from him as a lover by referring to him as a child. Not that this insight helped him form a response, but hey, it's always good to have some idea of what's going on?

"That's..not good?" He said, feeling dumb. Pepper had laughed at him, then, but good-naturedly and only for a short while.

"No, no. Not really. But you see," she leaned over the table conspiratorially and continued her story in hushed tones.

So Tony was not abusive, and not a cheater, thank the Gracious God, a thought that calmed Steve down all over again, as he kept staring at the letters in the book about renaissance art. He had reached the end of the page without actually catching a word of what he'd read.

He sighed, gave up and put the heavy book away. His mind was elsewhere anyway.

The tabloids had been right on some accounts, which Steve rationally knew all along –there was photo-evidence- but hearing it from someone you trust was another thing entirely.

Tony loved a good party, and particularly he loved getting drunk and possibly worse. Sometimes he got into fights, and Pepper had been –

Well, Pepper's hair had been getting grayer by the day (Steve knew it was a metaphor, but he'd still subtly checked her hair). And she'd told him, numerous times, to stay home, but he'd just laughed and told her to come along –

And then she'd told him that she'd break it off if he didn't behave, but he'd kept misbehaving – And eventually Pepper had been true to her words.

"Honestly," she'd said crassly. She'd been getting visibly more annoyed as they spoke.

"It's not like I don't GET that there's a problem there, but I can't.." she shook her head, looking both furious and distressed.

"I can't help someone who doesn't want my help, right? And anyway, I definitely can't date someone like that. Not when they don't even listen to ONE word.." Steve nodded, recognizing the frustrated, almost despaired edge to his friend's voice.

Apparently they'd broken up a few months before the summer-holidays, and Tony had been actively ignoring her ever since.

Pepper had made a great deal out of the immaturity part then, pointing at the fact that she'd warned him numerous times, so it really was as much he who broke up with her as the other way around.

Steve kind of understood the logic behind that, and kinda didn't. He thought it might be a gender-thing, but then instantly felt silly, because hey –gender-stereotyping, hello. I don't love you too.

Whatever the case, the whole thing left Steve feeling extremely self-conscious about his stalking habits so far. Tony had dated Pepper. They'd broken up, and now he was ignoring her like "an immature little brat", as she so eloquently put it.

Steve groaned into the pillow that he'd ended up pressing his face into.

There seemed to be a certain cruel irony to his life – Things were never allowed to stay easy. He remembered thinking that it was a great coincidence for Pepper and the Stark heir to be at the same school for completely selfish reasons.

Never had he thought they'd already have made history together.

The thought hadn't even crossed his mind. Why would they – it was a big campus?

So of course they had.

_**End note: **__And that was that. Hope you enjoyed! In the next chapter Clint and Natascha will be introduced ;) _

_(If you have the free time, a wee comment could potentially enlighten a whole day on my end, *wink wink*)_


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